Ravensblood Forest light of my life, fire of my loins [m]

She heard him out, desperately wanting to smite him with Atka's fury — the first time since cubhood her mind had leapt to the Goddess rather than Sos — but she could not nurture her fury productively. The flames licking her bowels and caressing her gut were unpredictable, but try as she might, she could not direct them. Her fury extended not only to Lecter, but to Clarice, to Kerberos, to Hawkeye, to Leto and Pied, to Vires, and all the others who had not waited for her. To those who had lost their faith in her because she had been gone scarcely more than two weeks. But Lecter was the one standing here, and the one claiming he had not left her. She could not deny him if he claimed it was the Gods' will, but she likely would try.

"Lethe came to me, claiming to care for my parents, but she did not see fit to see what Kaskae had learned. What I had learned. She saw us only as babes, not the rightful heirs of her beloved leaders. I had earned it and she ignored my skill," she hissed, determined not to allow Lecter to settle on just any Shearwater wolf. Jinx had been an Adept of the Gods, after all, at the time of her rising. "She came to the borders of my pack, planning to see my Alpha, but dared raise her head and treat me as nobody. She disrespects me, on no charge but Sos' choosing me to lead where my mother failed." Ordinarily, she might have kept this stuff to herself, but this was Lecter, and she so longed for him she would say anything, admit to anything, to coax him away from Lethe's siren's grasp.

She was most interested to find he would be crushed by her passing, but her mind lingered on what he'd said about Koios. "Then what did you mean?" she said, icy still, unwilling to let these words warm her. Not until he was safely where he belonged, with her. "Leave her. Return to me." Though her voice was silken and sultry (the only time it ever had been), it was not a question, but whether Lecter would listen or not, well... It was entirely up to Sos, unbeknownst to herself. She did not know Sos could control him, did not know he had been starving himself into madness... And so could not know if he would instantly refuse.